A rechargeable battery for electric vehicles and energy storage commonly has two terminals on its cap or cover. One is a positive terminal and the other is a negative terminal. Both terminals carry current during normal battery operation. Some recent references disclose multi-terminals in a battery. See, e.g., CN 202145472 U, CN 102299294 A, and WO/2011/151838. All of the terminals in the multi-terminal battery of these references carry electrical current during normal battery operation.
It is desirable that batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage include sensing, diagnostics, and control capabilities. Thus, there is a need to develop and implement sensors integrated in battery cells during manufacturing that will offer sensing, communication and control capabilities, beyond traditionally measured current, voltage, and external temperature. There is a further need to develop a mass-producible, highly reliable cell construction allowing for multiple terminals.